Jurgen Klopp's apparent telling-off of Christian Benteke after Liverpool's 3-2 defeat at Southampton on Sunday has been criticised by former Reds midfielder Danny Murphy.

Benteke dragged a second-half chance wide with Liverpool leading at St Mary's, and was given a stern talking-to on the pitch by his manager at full-time after late goals gave Southampton an unlikely victory after falling 2-0 behind.

The much-criticised Belgium international, who has fallen out of favour under Klopp and had again started on the bench, was visibly unhappy with the conversation.

Klopp denied criticising his striker about missing the target, telling BBC's Match of the Day 2: "I'm not going to go to him and ask, 'Why don't you use the chance?' Sometimes I have to talk to the players -- that's my job.

"They are going out to their national team and I don't want to make phone calls with them all. I had a few words to say, that's OK, nothing else."

However, Murphy and ex-Newcastle striker Alan Shearer felt confronting Benteke in full view of the supporters and cameras was poor man-management by the German.

"I understand that he's not his player, I don't think he fancies [Benteke]," Shearer said. "He didn't sign him. I understand all of that, but I wouldn't take too kindly if I was a player and he came on to the pitch in front of 32,000 and let his feelings be known.

"No problem if he wants to give him a telling-off, or whatever it is, but do it in the dressing room, in the four walls in front of the rest of the players, not in front of all the fans."

Murphy, who played 170 matches for Liverpool between 1997 and 2004, said: "I couldn't agree more. If you're going to give someone a telling-off then do it inside. Sometimes he's great, Jurgen Klopp, he's been a breath of fresh air, but sometimes he's overly animated on the touchline and it doesn't always go down well with everyone."

The real issue, Murphy said, lay in how quickly it was possible for Klopp's methods to translate to his players since he took over as manager from Brendan Rodgers in October.

"It tells me in the first half, in games they're playing with a really high intensity, that the players can't maintain over the 90 minutes," Murphy said. "It's a very difficult way to play football for a full 90 minutes and maybe he needs a full preseason. He'll bring in a couple of players he knows can play his system, but at the moment they are very 'Jekyll and Hyde.'"